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SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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Fee increase boosts DeKalb County general revenues
BUDGET IMPASSE
By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Once Upon a Time Child Care owner Michele Baker-McElroy helps Elijah Blackman, 2, up the climbing wall during free play Dec. 10 at her Sycamore child care center. Baker-McElroy, who opened Once Upon a Time Child Care in 2006, has expanded her facility twice, in 2008 and 2010. Now, faced with the Illinois budget impasse, enrollment is down by 12 kids, which caused her to cut staffing and leave classrooms empty.
CHILD CARE IN TURMOIL
Low-income families affected by new eligibility requirements By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com
Note to readers: This is the third installment in an occasional series about the effect of Illinois’ budget crisis on the state and its people. DeKALB – Asia Jones was excited when she finally landed a job in September, but her elation quickly turned to anxiety when she initially found out she didn’t qualify for a state child care subsidy. The Sycamore mother of three had been seeking work since she came to the area from Chicago two years ago. In September, she got a cooking position in the cafeteria at Sycamore High School, which meant she needed to find child care for her 2-year-old son. Jones, 28, learned about the Child Care As-
sistance Program, where the state subsidizes child care costs for working, low-income families, and hoped to apply at Community Coordinated Child Care (known as 4-C) in DeKalb. Then she learned from a caseworker that her $9.50-an-hour job would put her income $50 over the amount needed to qualify. “I really started crying, because I really needed to start working,” she said. The state reversed course as of Nov. 9, but not before helping create what some consider nightmarish situations for many low-income families such as Jones’. She found a home-based child care provider and paid $130 a week for the services. Her paycheck is roughly $617 every two weeks. “I have no help, and [paying] that was so hard,” she said. “I’ve paid over $1,500 in child care” since September. On July 1, two months before Jones ap-
plied, Gov. Bruce Rauner changed eligibility requirements for the assistance program. Qualifying income levels for new applicants were reduced, and co-pays increased for those already receiving assistance. Co-payments, which had ranged from $1 to $376 a month, were increased to as much as $445 a month for a family of five. A family of four – such as Jones’ – before July 1 could qualify for assistance with a monthly income max of $3,677, or $44,124 a year. The governor’s change slashed the maximum eligible income to $1,011 a month – or $12,132 a year. A Department of Human Services spokeswoman said that with the November change, families making up to 161 percent over the federal poverty level could qualify for child care assistance. That means a family of four
See CHILD CARE, page A6
SYCAMORE – DeKalb County permit and zoning fees have doubled to bring in more general revenue, not simply to fund a raise for the county building inspector – as previously proposed. DeKalb County planning and zoning Director Paul Miller said that, on average, the county collects $550 to $650 for initial zoning applications. He said staff time spent on them, however, amounts to about $2,000 an application. The disparity warranted a fee increase, he said. The initial application fee now is double, starts at $400 and goes to $3,000. The fees are assigned based on levels, and the levels are determined by how much time staff will have to devote to reviewing the application. The cost of site development permits is now twice as much, going from $500 to $1,000. The fee includes county Planning, Zoning and Building Department processing the permit (currently $200), and the county engineer reviewing and approving it, and doing an inspection ($300). Now, planning and zoning would get over three times more, or $700, of the fee. “The changes to the fees for permits ... are conservatively estimated to increase revenues by $11,900 year,” Miller said. Miller almost succeeded in upping the cost of building, zoning and site development permits to help cover a nearly $9,000 salary bump he wanted to give the building inspector. But the county board rejected the plan at its November meeting. David Reynolds was hired July 13 as the county building inspector with a $51,750 salary, according to county records. Miller said the rate was below market value for the position, so he wanted to increase the hourly wage from $25 an hour to $28, by charging more for permit fees. “I was fortunate to find a way to raise revenue to cover this cost. But I don’t think the building inspector should be penalized because not every department head could do the same,” Miller told county board members in November. County board members shot down the plan tying the fee increase to funding the increase in pay. After Miller’s proposal survived committee appeals, in the end, the full board felt it to be a slight to other county workers to increase Reynold’s pay so significantly and to use the fee increase to make it happen. Other employees were getting only 1 percent or 2 percent raises. “When we’re raising fees on a specific area, for a specific service, I really think that’s where the money should go,” said county board member Paul Stoddard, D-9th Dist.
Chicago medical clinic prescribes legal help for housing By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – She didn’t look sick, but Mahoghny Walker struggled to learn. Blood tests showed high levels of lead from old, chipping paint in her Chicago home. She had lead poisoning. So did her eight siblings. That much was clear to nurse practitioner Martha Glynn, the family’s primary care provider. What wasn’t: How to help their mother, Lanice Walker, navigate the Chicago Housing Authority’s system to move her kids to a safer home. Glynn turned to the Health Justice Project, a joint effort of Erie Family Health Center and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Since 2010, project attorneys have received more than 2,000 referrals about patients with legal issues such as housing, education, disability and family law. Nationally, the medical-legal movement, rooted in AIDS patient activism, now boasts nearly 300 hospitals and health centers in more than 30 states with partnerships helping vulnerable, low-income patients. In Philadelphia, a medical-legal partnership prevented utility shut-offs for hundreds of families with medical needs. In Atlanta, a partnership
“Medical providers realize that sometimes these issues are more important for health and well-being than cholesterol and blood pressure problems. It also helps our care teams, by allowing our medical providers to focus on what they’re best trained to do.” Dr. David Buchanan Chief clinical officer at Erie Family Health Center
attorney helped with custody issues that cleared the way for a child to get a needed heart transplant. In Nashville, attorneys assisted patients facing evictions. “Medical providers realize that sometimes these issues are more important for health and well-being than cholesterol and blood pressure problems,” said Dr. David Buchanan, Erie’s chief clinical officer. “It also helps our care teams, by allowing our medical providers to focus on what
they’re best trained to do.” Homes built before 1978 usually have some lead-based paint. When it flakes, the dust can cause attention problems and harm school performance in children. Landlords with public housing contracts are supposed to fix the hazards. Led by Loyola law professor Emily Benfer, Health Justice Project attorneys are urging the CHA to increase protections for residents by lowering the blood levels of lead that trigger a risk assessment or repairs. Currently, the CHA conducts a risk assessment when a child under age 6 has a blood level of 20 micrograms per deciliter, a level set in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations. Going to 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood for children of any age would align the program with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of lead poisoning. CHA officials plan to meet with the project and review the proposed standards, agency spokeswoman Wendy Parks said. “Our aim is to promote good health and reduce risk factors, especially those associated with leadbased paint hazards,” Parks said.
See LEAD POISONING, page A6
AP photo
Emaurie Walker, 4, has her height and weight checked during a physical Dec. 16 at an Erie Family Health Center clinic in Chicago, where her family has received legal help in moving out of a public housing unit with lead-based paint.
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